PROTECTING AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT
Your personal identity information may allow an unscrupulous person to open unauthorized charge accounts, or order goods and services and bill them to you without your permission. They may even access your personal or business accounts for withdrawals or purchases, to secure loans, to hide illegal funds, or to remain secluded from law enforcement or gain employment by circumventing criminal background checks. Each of us has personal information worth stealing, and our exposure can be great; however, we can minimize our risk by knowing how to prevent and respond to identity theft.
HOW CAN SOMEONE GET MY INFORMATION?
Your personal identity information is used to process practically every non-cash transaction: ATM machines, bills and receipts thrown in the trash, public records, unsecured mailboxes, stolen pocketbooks, intermit transactions, phony notices and requests from governmental agencies, telephone solicitations, and marketing ploys promising prizes, personnel files, obituaries, and medical records, etc. The creativity of the criminal mind can be remarkable.
WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO THEY WANT?
- Social Security Number
- Birth date
- Driver's license number
- Mother's maiden name
- Bank account or credit card/debit card numbers
- PIN numbers
- Log-on Names/ID's
- Passwords
HOW CAN I PREVENT PEOPLE FROM GETTING MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?
While no one is completely safe from identity theft, there are some simple measures that can be taken to help secure your personal information and guard against identity theft. If someone has stolen your information, catching it early is the key!
- Review your credit reports at least once a year. Please see back panel for credit reporting agency information.
- Never give personal information to someone over the telephone. Always ask them for a physical location and get the full name of anyone you deal with.
- Do not pre-print your driver's license number, Social Security number or phone number on your checks.
- Always check the reputation of any company you do business with on-line. Also look for a contact address located within the continental United States. It is much more difficult to retrieve funds or information transferred out of the country. Be cautious of any business that only has a P.O. Box for an address.
- Check all your billing statements and bank statements for unauthorized charges or withdrawals. If you don't receive a regular statement on time, contact your Credit Card Company or bank immediately.
- Do not write account numbers on checks or envelopes.
- If your credit card company sends convenience checks, you may want to request that it stop and shred the unused ones.
- Conceal your hand when entering PINs of any kind into a public machine or telephone.
- If you are transacting business over the internet always print out and save the receipt and transaction information.
- Always make your internet purchases over a secure connection and make purchases by credit card.
- Never give out your log-on name or password to someone who asks you via e-mail or instant message.
- Never send your personal information, credit card numbers or account numbers via e-mail or instant message.
- If any firm uses your Social Security number or other personal number as an account number, ask them to change it.
- Check Social Security statements for inaccuracies.
- Do not exchange personal information for prizes. They should be free ... no strings attached.
- Do not carry a list of PIN numbers in your purse or wallet.
- REMEMBER if it sounds too good to be true ... it is probably a scam.